Rick,
The CHS wanted 30/74 badly, and was probably surprised to find that it was not a feasable restoration. But it shouldn't have been a surprise.
I'm sure you recall that there had been previous schemes to "restore" #74, and each was defeated by practical reality, performed by the best and most seasoned men in the State who could do so.
This was absolutely no surprise to any of us who knew better, and shouldn't have been to anyone else, if they'd only listened. And that opportunity was made.
But hopes and wishes aren't enough to overcome the reality of years of neglect and poor maintenance, and just plain worn out parts. #74 was in fact brought back from the grave for a last curtain call, and it was the RGS that did it. As I have said so often before, the C&S squeezed the last drop out of that engine in 1943.
However, things have a way of working out for the best, and I hope that the engine can be reassembled and once again displayed proudly if not in my lifetime, then perhaps in the lifetime of my Grandchildren. Or, perhaps, great-grandchildren as yet unborn.... Maybe. But who cares about an engine that can't be run?